568 



TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION P. 



men to be work too heavy for women, it could probably be done quite well by 

 them. The men's Trade Union, however, will probably allow the employment of 

 women on this process, provided that they are paid at the same rates as 

 the men. 



During the last forty years there has been a tendency for the number of 

 men among card-room operators to decrease in proportion to the women, the 

 number of males in the trade being practically reduced to a minimum. The 

 men's work, however, has not been taken bj' women, but a woman's process 

 has displaced a man's process. 



Ring-spinners are mainly women, though a few male ring-spinners are em- 

 ployed to do night work. Competition is increasing between female ring- 

 spinners and male mule-spinners. The women earn from 15s. to 32s. per week, 

 and the men from 30s. to 70s. 



Since the War, a proposal was made by a certain employer to the Trade 

 Union that three women earning 15s. a week each should be allowed to take 

 the place of two men earning 32s. a week each who had enlisted for service, 

 the women to do the lighter part of the work only, while the heavier part 

 was to be transferred to the men. The proposal was unanimously rejected by 

 the Union according to its usual practice of resisting strongly the employment 

 of women on the lighter parts of men's work at lower rates, while the men are 

 left with the heavier parts and no increase of pay. 



In the cotton dyeing and finishing branch of the trade women are excluded 

 normally from all wet processes, and there has been no relaxation of Trade 

 Union rules since the War. In the calico printing trade, women have replaced 

 men, but in no other process. There is some evidence of male and female 

 competition in cotton polishing. 



Wool and Worsted. 



The following are the numbers employed in the trade according to the 

 Census of 1911 : 



The trade has been considerably affected since the War by large Govern- 

 ment orders for khaki and other cloth. The war boom is now, however, less 

 than it was in the winter and spring, but an accumulation of overdue orders 

 for civilian purposes has kept the trade brisk in spite of the reduction in the 

 Government demand. The number of women employed has increased since the 

 War, and especially during the month of December, when the Government 

 demand was at its zenith, but the extra women employed have rather come into 

 the trade to take up new work than to replace men. A shortage of dyes has 

 from time to time hindered production in the trade. 



Employers are now (August) finding increasing difficulty in obtaining either 

 male or female labour, and in a number of cases are training and bringing 

 new women into the trade. They complain of the difficulty, owing to separation 

 allowances and billeting, of persuading married and other women to return. 



The distinction between ' woollen ' and ' worsted ' is of primary importance 

 in this trade. Broadly, the difference is one of locality as well as quality of 

 wool. The worsted trade is practically confined to the west of the West 

 Riding of Yorkshire, where, by processes including ' combing,' which are carried 

 on generally in separate mills, the long wool is spun and woven into fine cjoth. 



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